Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Yes, you read that right. Now, as anyone who reads this website knows, I am no fan of Bishop Williamson and have often advocated that he be immediately retired to a dog track in Boca Raton. But fair is fair.

There is an interview of Bishop Williamson with Der Spiegel. The headline of the interview is 'I Will Not Travel to Auschwitz.' Drudge, unfortunately, is reporting this as "Holocaust-Denying Bishop Digs In."

This is a gross mischaracterization of the interview and of the response about visiting Auschwitz.

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comments:

It is true, Bishop Williamson's comment are biting, that he speaks strongly on subjects that are very sensitive in todays' world, and that his words can easily offend sensitive people. As for being unworthy of being a bishop or leader? I dare say in the ages of faith, prelates like St. Pius V said and did similar things because such strong leadership against error was expected of them. Is Bishop Williamson in error? is he preaching hatred, or truth? I do not know. I've seen Aushcwitz and today it's a museum bearing little resemblance to to any of it former terror: I don't know if there were gas chambers there. I have read the Leuchter report, it's good, but I see weaknesses in it.More importantly than Bishops Williamson's position on the Holocaust is his attitude and carriage against error; which is uncompromising, the way it must be as a Roman Catholic Bishop. I think Fr. Doran says it best in this write-up on the book of His Excellency's letters dating form the 80's: http://truerestoration.blogspot.com/2007/02/fr-james-doran-on-volume-i-of-bp.html

Bishop Williamson has been the general of the war against Modernism for a long time, a rallying for point traditionalists against the forces that were [are still in some places] tearing apart the Church. It is for this reason that he amoung all of the 4 bishops of the SSPX is being attacked; and dare I say he can take it, and will come out stronger and more popular for it. .

Nonsense. He is being attacked for gross imprudence in speaking out on a contentious issue in such a sensitive time for the SSPX and the Church.

If he had kept his public statements within the confines of that which he is competent to speak, this moment in history would simply have been one of unmitigated joy and celebration at the lifting of the excommunications.

Instead, because of his gross imprudence, bordering on malfeasance, in the original interview, this occasion has become a cudgel with which liberals inside and outside the Church are beating the Pope and Traditional Catholicism.

How anyone can twist this into an occasion to cheer Williamson is beyond comprehension.

"Nonsense. He is being attacked for gross imprudence in speaking out on a contentious issue in such a sensitive time for the SSPX and the Church."

Nonsense! He has been speaking this way for over 20 years. I am sorry if you find his bedside manner with the Modern World offensive but he is continuing the uncompromising pursuit of truth that he has always done.I saw the interview and at no point does he display the least "malfeasance" he just expresses an opinion which is considered blasphemous in todays world.A lot of people wish that the SSPX would come back into the body of the Church and just be quiet now, celebrate their Mass in Latin, and don't shake things up...they got their wish and have been received into communion with Holy Mother the Church, ~don't rock the boat! Those who wish such things are going to be very frustrated as that's not how the SSPX operates.

"he is continuing the uncompromising pursuit of truth that he has always done"

Despite any other good he may have done or may be doing, there is no way that claiming only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, and that none died in gas chambers, is an "uncompromising pursuit of truth."

Such claims have rightly been repudiated by the SSPX and its leadership, and if Williamson persists in making such claims, he will find himself outside the SSPX.

That there are SSPX followers that continue to defend him in making these claims is simply proof of the pernicious nature of his conspiracy theories and his malfeasance in publicly uttering them.

"Despite any other good he may have done or may be doing, there is no way that claiming only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, and that none died in gas chambers, is an "uncompromising pursuit of truth."

It is impossible for either of us, or for His Excellency to know for certain the extent or means of death in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. I personally do not believe that 6,000,000.00 Jews were killed, but that 6 million "people" [Jews and non-Jews] were killed which could possibly mean the total number of Jews was around 2-300,000. This is not my area of expertise, but I'm not going to swallow the first set of statistics that I hear on the news. As for the gas chambers...I don't know, I wasn't there."Such claims have rightly been repudiated by the SSPX and its leadership"The only "repudiation" that the SSPX leadership has done is to say that the Bishop cannot speak authoritatively except on matters of Faith and Morals. There has been no official acceptance of any teaching about the Holocaust [or Shoa if you're feeling particularly PC], from the SSPX hierarchy, only the acknowledgment that they, along with the Pope honor their "elder brothers in the Divine Covenant".